I went to an all night Chinese restaurant with one of my friends because I just had to have some fried rice. You know how you get those cravings and you know it's ridiculous to go out and get the thing that you want,but you do it anyway? Well, I just had to have this damn rice from this particular restaurant,so I dragged my friend with me because it was 2am,but I wanted it so bad.

This restaurant has a big door that leads to the kitchen and once the cashier took our order,she went into the kitchen to give it to the cook. These 2 guys came into the store and asked if me or my friend had change for 50 bucks,which of course,we didn't. They looked around and saw noone in the store,then told us to empty our pockets while one pulled out a small handgun. They said,give us what you do have in your pockets and I had only brought a 20 dollar bill with me and my friend had no money. The stupid rice I wanted was only $2.50,so I gave the guy what I had in my pocket.$17.50.

I can't describe the feeling of someone holding a gun near your head. I kept thinking about people who had been robbed and killed because they didn't have enough money to give the crooks. I thought for sure we were goners. They took the money and then ran out the door. As soon as they left,the cashier came out and asked us if we wanted anything else. My friend told her he wanted to call the cops,but I just wanted to get out of there and go home,so that's what we did. I figured,what could the cops do about it anyway,and it was only 17 bucks. If I had been thinking clearly, I certainly would have called the cops because of course this is something these thugs probably do all the time. I think it took me a few months before I was able to go out at night and feel comfortable.

And that rice I wanted so badly? I never wanted it (or anything else)from that place again.

I've been robbed twice. I'm a restaurant manager. I got robbed by the same idiot both times. I was working for a friend of mine who owned a fast food type place at the time. I was in the kitchen washing some pots and pans and when I turned around there was a guy standing there who said "This is a hold up." I started laughing because I thought it was a friend of my cook who was messing with me. He said "This aint no joke pal" and I realized he was pointing a pistol at me. So I headed back to the safe. He told me to lay down on the floor which I did right in front of the safe after I opened it. I could feel him shaking as he leaned over me to get the money and that scared me as you here the stories of thieves shooting someone when they panic. His partner came to the back to see how it was going. The guy with the gun told him to go up front and "check on the sister" so I started to worry about the female cashier I had working that evening. Turns out everyone was fine.

The second time a group of about 6 guys came running in right at closing time. I told them we were closed and one of them had his hand in his coat pocket like he has a gun and said "give us your money, all of it from the back too." One of the punks was very hands on grabbing and shoving, calling me a motherf****r, etc. They took all the money and left. The police were there about 30 seconds after they left. We were the local hangout for the SWAT teams and police in that area so they all came running. Must have just missed them. It was the same guy both times. They never got caught and I never saw them again.

One of the most interesting blizzards was when I was snowed in to a teeny three room apartment with over a dozen people for several days. Our main form of sustenance was Hamburger Helper and Cappuccino and we were turning on each other like a pack of wolves by the time we shoveled out. Caffeine-fueled cabin fever caused a hysteria that could have quickly turned into a Lord of the Flies scenario if the snow plows hadn't of arrived when they did.

When you're ten years old and a car drives by and splashes a puddle of water all over you, it's hard to decide if you should go to school like that or try to go home and change and probably be late. So while he was trying to decide, I drove by and splashed him again. - Jack Handey

When I was in the sixth grade someone stole my Braun butane fueled curling iron right out of my purse along with my favorite lip gloss. I hope she burns her fingers every time she uses it.

When I was in high school someone opened all four doors on my car but did not take anything out of it. It was odd going around and closin all my doors before getting into the car and driving home.

Once I was at the mall 20 minutes before closing time and rushed in to buy a last minute gift. When I walked out my car was the only one in the area. As I walked toward it I heard footsteps behind me. When I got to the car I turned around and yelled at the top of my lungs, "What do you want? Aaaaaahhhhh!" This really tiny guy got startled and dropped a pipe he was carrying and ran. I jumped in my car and drove straight for the mall security guy and they caught tiny guy trying to break into someone elses car on the other side of the mall.

When I lived in New Mexico a friend stole my blazer and gave it to his drug dealer. The ass of a judge just let him go less than 24 hours later. I never saw my car again. I moved back to Texas. It is good to be home.

Knock on something, anything...the worst I've been thru is a car break in that was actually accidental for my car, intended for the girl that was riding with me that night. She had some very stalker-like habits of hooking up with guys and then basically considering herself married to them and following them everywhere and annoying the complete snot out of them. Ok so she'd had it real bad for this guy Joe and he wasn't having a bit of it so he tried to freak her out and while we were at IHOP about 3am he broke into what he thought was her car and stole her purse (complete with my freakin Duran Duran concert ticket for the next week inside it) and camera. I always knew something was fishy cause yeah, it was my car that was broken into, but my purse, cassettes, camera, and a whole bunch of other good stuff of mine wasn't touched...just hers. He confessed and apologized later that week when he found out that he'd gotten the wrong person's car and actually paid for the repairs to the window. Reasons I needed a totally new group of firends

I also experienced the '89 quake. I was lucky - no damage to speak of in my apartment. Our pool had about 2 feet of water splash out and that was it! And I lived about 5-10 miles from Paulie at the time.

Crime:

When I was 7 years old I lived in Iran. We had a little enclosed porch on the side of our house. I kept some toys and a number of comic books out there. One morning after my dad went to work, I woke up because I heard noises out there. Some teenager had broken in through the screen door and his hands were full of comic books. He saw me through the glass panel in the door to our house and took off. I yelled "Mom! Someone is stealing my comic books!" and I ran out of the house after him in my pajamas and slippers. Of course my mom freaked, because she didn't think it was too smart for her 7 year old son to chase a teen, but I wasn't thinking that clearly - those comics were shipped to me from the US, it's not like I could get more at the store. I lost him after about a block, but not to worry. We lived on an Iranian air base, and a soldier caught him about two blocks away. That teen grew to become Saddam Hussein.

Okay, he didn't really. But I had you for a minute.

In college, my 65 Mustang was broken into while parked outside the restaurant I was working a lunch shift at. They tore the console apart and stole the cassette deck. In the process they tore out the wiring, and I had to have the car towed and ignition rewired. It sucked.